


The Rampage of Terra's Armor

by yamarik



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Humor, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Short One Shot, Silly, Sora is Okay, post-kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23598778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamarik/pseuds/yamarik
Summary: Terra's armor has been wreaking havoc, and it's all Sora's fault.
Kudos: 21





	The Rampage of Terra's Armor

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic pretends that Sora never vanished, though you could also read this as being set after everyone manages to track Sora down again.

Three figures stood at the edge of a cliff, gaping at the scene in front of them. In the center was Terra, who was frozen in horrified shock. To his right, Ventus was equally frozen as he blinked rapidly, an incredulous half-smile on his face showing that he was trying to convince himself this must all be some sort of sick joke. And to their left, Aqua was shifting uncomfortably, repeatedly taking hesitant half-steps in two different directions before changing her mind and switching destinations, as she couldn’t decide which part of the unfolding disaster needed to be dealt with first: the armor, or the children. 

By children, she of course meant Sora, Riku, and Kairi. The three may have been teenagers already, and would definitely have resented being called children, but to Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, the younger three keyblade wielders were still the little midgets they’d met in Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden. Even if one of them was already a master, they were still “wee small babs” in the eyes of their seniors. And they certainly weren’t helping change that image at the moment, as they sat and watched a catastrophe unfold while eating popcorn and laughing like this was the greatest entertainment since the glider races. 

And the chaos they were watching? That would be parts of Terra’s armor, floating around the badlands and fighting each other. As the keyblade wielders watched, one gauntlet punched a shin guard, while the other gauntlet had a death grip on the helmet, and a boot was kicking at the chest plate, and the other pieces were all whirling around in a maelstrom of flying metal. And amidst all this mess, at least two different keyblades could be seen firing off advanced fighting techniques, which was why it was so concerning that the children were spectating from such a close distance. 

“Oh hey guys!” Sora greeted, being the first to notice them. He waved cheerily, clearly not seeing any problem with the situation. “Want some popcorn?” 

“We saved you guys some seats,” Riku added, smirking like the cheeky little shit he could be when he wasn’t trying to win some award for angstiness. In that moment, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus all privately had the same thought, which was that it had been Sora’s idea to watch the scene in front of them, and Riku had taken the idea and run away with it. That’s how it was with those two: Riku taking Sora’s most idiotic ideas and making them happen, yet somehow managing to figure out logistics and safety so things went smoothly. 

“It’s not as dangerous as it looks, really,” Kairi promised, ever the one dragged along with the other twos’ misadventures. It might have been a more comforting assurance were it not for Kairi’s history of being a bit naive, a bit reckless, and having way too much faith in her friends. 

Finally, Aqua found her voice. 

“Guys, just what is going on here?” she asked. 

“We’re not really sure,” Sora admitted, but it was hard to tell if he was using the royal we or if he actually meant all three of them. “That armor’s been acting real weird since the other week, and- GUYS, OVER HERE!” He waved at someone behind the wayfinder trio, and the three of them turned to see Roxas, Xion, Namine, Lea, and Isa all headed their way. Terra groaned at the sight. Just what they needed: more potential collateral damage. 

“The other week?” Ventus asked, frowning. 

“Yeah, after Sora mentioned meeting Terra’s armor,” Kairi clarified. 

The wayfinder trio paused in thought, trying to remember. Oh yeah, there _had_ been something like that. To think such an innocent statement could start all this… 

* * *

Terra, Aqua, and Ventus had all been training together wearing their armor when Sora, Kairi, and Riku showed up for their turn on the training ground. Not that they couldn’t have trained elsewhere, but when there was a specific place called “the training ground” then that tended to be where they all gravitated towards when they wanted to train. Something about being keyblade wielders of light and following the rules and all that. 

Of course the younger generation of wielders watched with awe as their seniors finished up their sparring. One could pull much riskier moves when fighting someone who was safely ensconced in armor, and also, the wayfinder trio had actually trained under a master, unlike the destiny trio who were all self-taught noobs. Not that the wayfinder trio was about to call them noobs to their faces or anything, just… those kids’ techniques tended to be rather sloppy. Powerful, but oh so sloppy. 

Anyway, the wayfinder trio finally stood down, and they all took off their armor and walked over to where they’d left their water bottles and sweat towels. They were just cooling down with said items when Terra turned, his towel still pressed to his face, and saw that Sora, at least, was still gaping at them. Or rather, at him specifically. 

“What is it Sora, do I have something on my face?” Terra asked. 

“Just the usual eyes, ears, and mouth,” Riku sassed in passing, already beginning a warm-up with Kairi. Sora just tilted his head, his jaw slack and his expression considering. 

“Ha-ha,” Terra grumbled at Riku, then turned his attention back to Sora. “Seriously though, why are you staring? That’s really starting to freak me out.” 

“Yeah, that is getting a little unnerving,” Ventus agreed. “Hey, Earth to Sora?” 

“Isn’t it more Air to Sora?” Aqua teased, causing both her two best friends to roll their eyes at her lame sense of humor. “What, it’s funny!” she defended. “Terra means earth and Ventus means air!” 

“Riku also means earth!” Riku interjected, blocking a strike from Kairi. “A little less swing, Kairi, you were wide open there.” 

“Sora swings like that all the time!” Kairi protested. 

“And Sora gets his butt kicked all the time, because he’s always wide open!” Riku retorted. 

“Hey Terra…” Sora said slowly, finally leaving whatever zone he’d been in. “How come your armor is so rude when you’re such a nice guy?” 

Everyone blinked as they tried to comprehend what Sora had just said. Luckily, Sora tended to be pretty talkative, and was happy to explain without prompting. 

“I mean, a while back there was this portal in Disney Castle, and it led to this weird place, mighta been the Keyblade Graveyard cuz it was all dusty like it is there, and I met your armor there. And holy crap do you have any idea how many elixirs and potions the guys and I went through when your armor decided to attack us for absolutely no reason at all? Even with our best gear it was all we could do not to get killed! And like, we didn’t even do anything to it, we just showed up to see what was going on with this weird portal that just randomly appeared in the Hall of the Cornerstone. That seems pretty mean to me, don’t you think?” 

“Sora, what have I told you about going through strange portals?” Riku said in a mock warning voice. 

“Well someone had to do it!” Sora argued. “And since you were off having an identity crisis and everyone else was busy, it had to be me. Besides, I had Donald and Goofy with me, so I was totally fine.” 

“Donald and Goofy are the worst babysitters ever,” Riku muttered under his breath, causing Kairi to stifle a giggle. 

“I’m not listening to Riku, no I’m not!” Sora sing-songed loudly. “Lala lala la la la.” 

“Er, sorry about that?” Terra said hesitantly once the children had resorted to merely sticking their tongues out at each other. “When I got taken over by Xehanort, my armor just kinda, went on autopilot I guess? And since it had been in battle, I guess it thought anyone who came near was an enemy?” 

“Or maybe it sensed the darkness in you, Sor,” Kairi teased, earning herself a high five from Riku and a pouty glare from Sora. 

“I hadn’t even had trouble with the darkness back then!” Sora whined. 

“Gosh, has anyone here not had trouble with darkness at some point or another?” Ventus asked, half to himself. 

“I haven’t!” Kairi called, jumping out of her defensive stance and raising a hand high above her head. “Ow,” she added as Riku couldn’t stop the blow she’d been supposed to block in time. 

“Not your own, anyway,” Aqua pointed out. 

“Okay,” Sora said loudly, trying to drown everyone out and make them focus. “But that still doesn’t answer my question! Why is Terra nice but his armor mean?” 

“Sora, Terra literally just answered that question,” Ventus pointed out. “His armor was in a reactive defense mode and couldn’t distinguish friend from foe.” 

“Oh, right,” Sora said. “It’s not gonna attack me again, is it?” 

“Nope,” Terra said confidently, lightly patting his gauntlet. “Everything is back to normal now.” 

“Okay good,” Sora said, and finally began his warm-up. 

But unbeknownst to any of the keyblade wielders there, someone had been eavesdropping. 

* * *

The first incident happened two days later, when someone wearing Terra’s armor pulled out one of Donald Duck’s tail feathers. Given that this happened at a time when Terra was definitely sparring with Aqua, he was innocent. But _someone_ had to have donned his armor and pulled the feather. 

The next day found Namine trying in vain to reclaim her sketchbook from someone wearing Terra’s armor, who seemed to find it hilarious to hold the item high in the air and watch Namine jump for it. Eventually Xion came along and reclaimed the book for her friend, so all was well in the end, but it was still a frustrating experience. 

After that, the prankster stole Mickey’s shirt, switched out Lea’s hair gel with glue, cast Graviga on Goofy’s shield so he couldn’t lift it, cast Magnega on Riku and Roxas so they were stuck together for three hours, replaced Sora’s shoes with a pair of clown shoes (not that anyone noticed the difference until Sora got blisters from training in shoes that weren’t properly broken in), and more. Isa was frozen by Stopza long enough for his face to get drawn on, and Aqua’s clothes were dyed neon orange somehow. But strangest of all was that, when Ventus came upon the armored prankster adding laxatives to dinner one night, when he attacked them, the armor suddenly fell apart, and the only trace of the prankster was a sinister laugh. 

Then, just when they were all getting used to the pranks, things got even weirder. Kairi witnessed the armor use aero to cover the dining hall with glitter, leave, and then come back five minutes later and use a complex array of spells to clean the mess up. Terra came across the armor painting over some rude graffiti that Chirithy had seen it painting earlier. Suddenly, every time the armored menace committed a prank, they would undo it shortly thereafter. It was bizarre, to say the least. 

Within a week, the armor started separating. Half would be committing a prank while the other half would be undoing the damage, and at this point everyone had pretty much guessed that there was something abnormal going on. After all, floating armor could be the result of some really complicated magic casting, but this? This was just freaky. 

The weird thing was, it was only Terra’s armor this was happening to. Ventus’s armor was untouched, Aqua’s armor hadn’t been seen floating around, and even Master Eraqus’s old armor had remained locked safely in its case, honoring the late master. It wasn’t like Terra’s armor was any more accessible than the other sets, yet for some reason, his was the sole problem. 

And now the armor was apparently getting into an all-out war with itself. At least it had the decency to do so at a location where there would be minimal damage. 

And just when everyone had thought they’d seen it all, they began to hear shouting. 

“Damnit Eraqus, stop being such a goody-goody two shoes, spoilsport _killjoy_!” one voice yelled. It sounded vaguely familiar, to some more than others. 

“You’re being completely inappropriate, Xehanort!” another voice retorted. This one too, was somewhat familiar to some, though it sounded different than they were used to. Less weathered. 

“It’s just a bit of harmless fun you old coot!” Xehanort yelled, because yes, that was Xehanort’s voice. Or rather, the voice of the young version of Xehanort they’d all met. 

“Harmless? Do you realize just how much damage you’ve done you twisted madman?” Eraqus retorted. 

“Nothing permanent though! I could be doing way worse! I’m just messing with them a bit. If they want to be masters, they have to be on their toes! I’m _helping_ them!” 

Okay, this was just… surreal. As they watched, a pair of ghostly spectres appeared in the midst of the battle, the same two youths who had appeared in the wake of Xehanort’s defeat. Apparently, the ghosts of the masters were capable of haunting armor. 

“Besides, it wasn’t even my idea!” Xehanort protested. “Sora’s the one who mentioned Terra’s armor pulling pranks!” 

“Um excuse me?” Sora called out, making Terra, Aqua, and Ventus all dive for him to try and silence him lest his interruption call attention to the onlookers and make them into targets. Sora dodged them though, because after all his adventures he’d achieved a rather high degree of mobility and was a nimble little twit. “I never said anything about pranks. I just said Terra’s armor was mean. Y’know, since it attacked me?” 

“Yeah well this old fogey made me swear a cease of hostilities so I can’t do that,” Xehanort complained, jabbing a keyblade in Eraqus’s direction to indicate who he was talking about, and then taking the opportunity to fire off a volley of shadow balls. Eraqus blocked the projectiles and fired off a round of his own, using light. “I had to settle for the next best thing,” Xehanort added, running to gain some distance and then dodging into the ground. 

“So what, you were trying to play on Sora’s trauma?” Roxas asked. “Not cool, man. Not cool.” 

“Well what do you expect, it’s Xehanort,” Isa pointed out. “He’s pretty much the king of uncool.” 

“Don’t call him a king, you might give him ideas!” Lea hissed. 

“What makes you think I’d settle for being a king?” Xehanort asked, popping out of the ground from right beside them. He looked genuinely confused too. “I could have rewritten the universe if you oafs hadn’t gotten in my way; I would have been a god.” 

“And yet you’ve been reduced to pulling a bunch of lame pranks just for attention,” Kairi sighed, shaking her head. “How the mighty fall.” 

“Ouch, way to rub salt in his wound,” Xion said. 

“Okay, but can we just have everyone agree to stop possessing my armor already?” Terra asked. “I’d like to be able to, you know, use it. At least every now and then.” 

“Yeah, you don’t need his armor to pull pranks, right?” Ventus said, and suddenly everyone was reminded that he’d spent more than a decade sleeping inside Sora’s heart and that yes, it _had_ affected him some. “So it’s not like you can’t have fun still.” 

“But there has to be a limit!” Aqua interjected quickly. “Like maybe one a week or something. None of this going crazy and pranking everyone. And nothing too unreasonable!” 

“Oh fine,” Xehanort huffed, rolling his eyes. “But how will I know if something’s unreasonable?” 

“Master Eraqus, do you think you can be the judge of that?” Aqua requested. 

“I think so,” Eraqus said. 

“Great, you’re gonna veto everything I suggest,” Xehanort sighed. 

“Well if I do, I’ve got a few ideas for pranks that we could do together,” Eraqus said, an impish expression on his face. 

“Ugh, now there’s two of them!” Lea groaned. 

“But isn’t it nice that they’re getting along?” Namine asked. 

With the battle finished, everyone began drifting off in different directions, leaving the two ghosts to scheme together. As they walked away, Sora couldn’t help musing, “Wow, I never realized those two had such a great friendship. I hope we can be like that too.” 

“Yeah,” Kairi agreed. “Let’s be just like them. Grow old and gray together, and then once we die, we’ll stay friends even then. Forever and for always.” 

“Guess I just can’t get rid of you two,” Riku smirked. “But you know, I’m actually looking forward to that.”


End file.
